NHTSA proposes dropping manual brake pedal requirement for vehicles built to run only on automated driving systems
US regulators proposed dropping the manual brake pedal requirement for vehicles built to run only on automated driving systems. NHTSA says braking and stopping-distance standards stay. The move lowers a barrier for driverless cars from Tesla $TSLA and Amazon's $AMZN Zoox.
Companies building cars with no steering wheel or pedals just got a regulatory opening in the United States. On June 25 the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration proposed ending the requirement for manual brake pedals in vehicles designed to be driven exclusively by automated driving systems. The agency said the change would not apply to vehicles that still have human controls, and that it is not relaxing braking performance requirements, including strict stopping-distance standards. The proposal is one of several changes the agency has floated to ease the rollout of self-driving vehicles. A 30-day public comment period now begins before the Department of Transportation decides whether to approve the update. If finalized, it would lower a commercialization barrier for firms developing fully autonomous vehicles without traditional controls, including Tesla $TSLA and Amazon's $AMZN Zoox unit. The step reflects a regulatory framework still being adapted to vehicles designed without a human driver in the loop.